- Title
- The effects of liberalisation and regulation of cellphone companies from 2007 - 2018: a study of Buffalo city municipality
- Creator
- Malobola, Nomvuyo Ursula Vuyokazi
- Subject
- Economic development
- Date Issued
- 2020
- Date
- 2020
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MSoc (Communications)
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18153
- Identifier
- vital:42237
- Description
- This study focuses on the effects of liberalisation and regulation of the telecommunications sector in South Africa. A qualitative research method was adopted and the researcher conducted focus group interviews with participants that were purposely selected to collect data from different suburbs around the Buffalo City Metropolitan area in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The areas were Mdantsane, Selborne and Southernwood, which have large populations and obviously enjoy high cell phone usage. In addition, an in-depth interview was conducted with an official of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), which is the monitoring body for telecommunications in South Africa. The findings of this study have shown that despite the airtime and data being expensive, the telecoms sector is critical to the people of South Africa, and the failure by the government to regulate and liberalise the telecoms sector has led to expensive cell phone charges on the public. As such, it can be noted that the majority of the urban poor, especially in the Buffalo City Metropolitan, endure expensive charges. More so, the study found that there has been frustrating slow progress of transformation of the telecommunications industry and associated key national policy objectives. In addition, the study also recognises that as a member of WTO South Africa had to adopt policies of globalisation or risk isolation should it operate outside it. In addition, this study revealed that in spite of the challenges that are related to regulation and liberalisation, progress can still be made in reducing price hikes, especially when strategic investments are made in the telecommunication sector in South Africa.
- Format
- 122 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
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UFH Department of Communication
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Malobola _ 9328157 _ MSocSc COMMUNICATION - October 2020.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |